Andrew Zusman is a user experience designer and blogger. He is a graduate of Netcraft Academy, an institute for user experience education, and a UX designer at Inkod-Hypera. He is an alumnus of Indiana University. Andrew is a native Hoosier, but currently resides in Tel-Aviv with his girlfriend and their dog, Indy.

Ask any high school aged boy what secret power he’d like to have, and I’ll bet that x-ray vision tops the list. Wonderbra, through the power of augmented reality and one the coolest ad campaigns I’ve seen in a long time, has brought x-ray vision to mobile….for women (sorry boys…)!

Part of the problem of selling a bra is that it might not be so clear how the bra would look underneath different shirts, blouses, and dresses. Coupled with the wide range of different Wonderbras (seven different types!) these two problems demanded a special solution and Wonderbra’s response was fantastic.

Using the special “decoder” app, women can scan print, web, and even video ads made by Wonderbra to see which bra the model is wearing. It’s a type of augmented reality that helps to promote the company by both encouraging application download and encouraging time investment. According to the advertisement, users spent over 13 minutes (!!!) using the decoder. I think this is probably because it’s fun and interesting to use. Augmented reality isn’t entirely new but as a practical application it isn’t something we all use day-to-day.

In short, the Wonderbra Decoder is fun to use! It gives users more control over print ads and even YouTube ads like this one:

This campaign is fun and interesting and users have responded. I hope to see more campaigns that draw in users by giving them a positive experience with a product. I like the idea that there can be user control in advertising. The Decoder is almost like an invitation, and the possibility for this type of technology is endless!